The Amin family: running Shriji News

Everyone has a story. The Amin family running Shriji News are the heart of Canonbury. It’s at their busy corner shop in Canonbury that you’ll swap news, make friends and meet neighbours. Interview by Nicola Baird. Photos by Kimi Gill.

Shriji is a Gujarati pet name for Lord Krishna – but if you live in Canonbury you’ll instantly link it to the popular newsagent and general convenience store, Shriji News, run by the Amin family since 1995.

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Brothers Sunil and Minesh Amin are from a little Gujarati village who moved to London in 1990 to give themselves  a better life.  “We worked in a newsagent shop in several places and then friends supported us to buy this place,” says Minesh, 52.

“It was a rundown newsagent and prices were so high,” says his sister-in-law, Falguni. “It was dirty and the people running it were not friendly. They’d run down the business.”

Of course, Shriji news had to be cleaned up, which kept all the Amins busy, but they also all had to learn English.

“We struggled a lot for two years,” says Minesh whose wife Dipali is also often on the till. “We thought we were in the wrong place, then after that we realised everyone knows us and it is like a family.” He’s still impressed by the kindness of “one customer, an old man, who said ‘I’ll teach you English’. He stood next to the counter and said ‘just speak, don’t be afraid!”.

Turns out this was Edmund Fogden who ran Canonbury Bookshop, 268 Upper Street,

https://www.islingtonfacesblog.com/2018/04/04/barry-forshaw-canonbury-bookshop-in-the-1970s/

In Shriji News you will also meet Sunil, 57 who is married to Falguni, 50. The pair have two children, now 28 and 25, both of whom went to William Tyndale primary school off Upper Street. Their son, who is now working as an engineer, then went to Central Foundation and their daughter, who is currently doing a PhD, to Camden School for Girls. It’s clear both couples are very proud of the education their children have gained in locally. Like their cousins, Minesh and Dipali’s children, now 22 and 18, went to William Tyndale and both also secured scholarships for next door’s sixth form at North Bridge School. “London is a place to get educated and get good jobs,” says Minesh.

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Places the Amins love in Islington and nearby

1. Even though the shop is open every day, the family like to make use of London.
2. Like many Islingtonians, they enjoy walking on the New River Walk and feeding the ducks.
3. They also enjoy visits to Alexandra Palace.
4. Sunil says: “We don’t have much time, but we go to the Watford Temple because it’s peaceful. And we love to watch cricket at Lords and the Oval.” Quick as a flash Minesh jokes that, “cricket is our god!”

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Around 4pm is supposed to be a quiet time in the shop, just after the rush of school students buying snacks for the journey home, but while Islington Faces visits, there are shopping missions from the chair of the Canonbury Society, Philip Walker and our trustee Ursula Yates buys a National Geographic. There are also a steady stream of customers buying chocolates, crisps and drinks. Like the Tardis in Dr Who this is a shop that seems bigger on the inside. You can find paint brushes for art projects, oat milk, party balloons, plantain chips, fresh fruit and vegetables, an amazing range of daily newspapers and magazines from the Economist to Vogue, plus Aperol and wine, useful house cleaning items such as Dettol and all sorts of sweets ranging from vegan Pip & Nut butter cups to the first choice of Baby Boomers’ parents, Fry’s Chocolate Cream.

The Amins are friendly and Falguni is particularly sweet to a little boy who is so excited to be buying a magazine that he lies on the floor waving his £5 note.

During lockdown the family stepped up their delivery service offering a lifeline to anyone isolating. “In March 2020 we were delivering to about 50-60 households,” says Sunil. “We just gave a receipt and said when you feel better you can come and pay.” Similarly, Falguni says that “if people phoned us, we said ‘don’t worry, we can deliver a pint of milk’, and we did!” Given that this was the time the father and son running the newsagent at nearby Highbury and Islington station both died, keeping on working took courage and business acumen.

Party treats
Falguni is renowned for her delicious samosas and onion bhajis which she likes to take to the summer and winter Canonbury Society parties where the community is great at getting together. It’s a party she’s really hoping will happen this year. “It’s a nice community, a little village. We’ve seen one generation grow up from here,” she says adding that she’s always looking out for her customers. For example, “If we see an old person come alone into the shop, especially in winter, we keep an eye on them. Or if they are very little we watch to see they cross the road safely,” she explains.

Canonbury resident Rosemary is a huge fan of Shriji News for all the things they do locally, including bringing snacks to the party, but says, “they were marvellous during lockdown.”

What’s so lovely is that just as their customers are loyal shoppers at Shriji News, the Amins are big fans of Canonbury. Minesh says: “It’s a small community and people are ready to help. When we wanted to buy the old police houses (off Balls Pond Road) when it came up for auction one customer offered us £10,000 for our deposit! She didn’t know us. We feel very lucky.”

After 28 years living above their shop, they have noticed changes though. “The old people are very keen to support us, and buy local, but we are seeing a lot of new people who don’t have time to read and who order food on line,” says Sunil. He is also not a fan of the Low Traffic Neighbourhood as he says it has made deliveries complicated, or in some cases suppliers, like the driver who used to deliver ice, cancel their order.

If you live in Canonbury you’ll know how brilliant this shop is. And if not, now you do – so next time you take a walk or a bike ride down to Canonbury Tower or the New River be sure to stop off and treat yourself to a magazine, snack and a friendly chat with whoever’s on the till at Shriji News. And if you are a cricket fan, make sure to stay a little bit longer because there’s a lot to talk about.

• Shriji News, 14 Canonbury Place, N1 2NQ is open every day from 5.30am-7pm and on Sundays from 5.30am until 3pm. Only closed on Christmas Day.
• Shriji News deliver to Canonbury as well as Lofting Road, Barnsbury along Essex Road and Highbury New Park. Visit to ask if papers can be delivered to your address.

Over to you
If you’d like to nominate someone to be interviewed who grew up, lives or works in Islington, or suggest yourself, please let me know, via nicolabaird dot green at gmail dot com. Thanks to Rosemary and several other Canonbury locals for this suggestion.

If you enjoyed this post you might like to look at the A-Z  index, or search by interviewee’s roles or Meet Islingtonians to find friends, neighbours and inspiration. Thanks for stopping by. Nicola